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Thursday, October 13, 2011

Petition to Save our Stros

Here's an online petition that you can sign and send to Bud Selig to keep the Astros in the National League.

And the text:Dear Mr. Selig,

As a lifelong Astros fan I am very upset with your plans to move the Astros to the American League and/or out of the Central Division. The Astros have been in the National League since their beginnings in 1962 as the Colt .45s. Before that the Houston Buffs were a minor league team for the St. Louis Cardinals which is also in the National League. All our rivalries are in the National League.

We are also in the central time zone which is 2 hours ahead of the western time zone. If the Astros were moved to the western time zone a majority of our games would not start until 9pm and would end after midnight. The box score would not even make our newspaper.

You acquired the Seattle Pilots in bankruptcy court, moved them to Milwaukee, and renamed them the Brewers in 1969. The Brewers were in the American League from 1969-1997 (28 years) and then moved to the National League in 1998. Since the Brewers don't have near the years of history in the National League that the Astros have, move the Brewers back to the American League to make the American League more balanced if that is so important.

Please Mr. Selig, leave the Astros alone. You are breaking my heart and ruining what is left of our fanbase.

14 comments:

I just mailed a letter (snail mail--more gravitas?--to him yesterday making many of these points. But I'll sign the petition, too. I doubt if us small fry will have much impact, but if we don't try to do something...

Although in my letter I said I didn't care if we moved to the west as long as we stayed in the NL (my suggestion was to move the D-Backs to the AL west).

To even up the divisions, which is a laudable goal, SOMEONE is going to have to have a lot of games two time zones away. Saying we don't want that to be us seems like a separate argument from the much more important argument to stay in the NL.

I think it is a mistake to throw another franchise under the bus. It would be more tasteful to mention the Brewers history, and the fact that the D-Backs ownership is quoted as saying that they would willingly move.

It is also incorrect that most games would start late and not be done before midnight. The Astros will have half their games scheduled for home, and I am sure there will be some day games on the road. It is a nitpick, but it still gives the commissioner another reason to dismiss the proposal.

If you're a lifelong fan then you have no problem with West Coast games because for a majority of their history the Astros played in a division where they played an awful lot of late night West Coast games. So at least get the talking points right.

It is reported that you would like to move the Astros to the American League so that both leagues would have 15 teams. While I understand and appreciate this reasoning, I disagree with the decision to make it the Astros.

It needs to be noted that the city of Houston, as both the home of a St. Louis Cardinals farm club and as the home of the Colt .45s/Astros has a long history as a National League city, and it seems wrong to toss that long, long history aside.

It should also be noted that there is another, better alternative. The Arizona Diamondbacks have only fielded a team since 1998, so they do not have the longstanding history in the National League. It should also be noted that they were originally intended to join the American League, and that the current owners have stated that they would not object to changing leagues.

Moving the Diamondbacks makes geographic sense, and it would allow the AL West to finally have 5 teams.

This move would leave the NL West with only 4 teams, while the NL Central would still have 6 teams. In this scenario, and in keeping with the history of the Astros in the NL where the majority of their history was spent as a member of the NL West, moving the Astros to the NL West would not only be logical and keeping with team history, it would finally allow all six MLB divisions to have five teams. It would also allow for the resumption of historic rivalries with the Dodgers and Giants.

Thank you for reading, and I hope that you will see and understand the logic of this argument.

I do think John's petition is better (just needs an "click-and-be-done-with-it" button to send it to Selig). Personally, I think the whole idea of 15 teams in each league is flawed, because it necessitates interleague games at all times. Which means, for example, in the final series of the season, some AL team fighting for the division will be sitting their $13mil DH, or some NL team will be DHing a Geoff Blum type, and does anybody really want to see that in a crucial game?

I'm also very worried that this scenario will lead to the DH being implemented in both leagues. Baseball is about athleticism, versatility, and tough strategic choices, and the DH goes against all of that. I really hope I'm wrong but MLB and the Union both seem to care way more about money than respecting the history of the game, so I think that's what we're headed towards.

Eh. I'll still watch if they play in the AL. Infact, I think it will make things more interesting since the Stros are going to be terrible the next 3 to 5 years. Thanks Hunsicker, Purpura, Wade, Tal and Drayton for running this franchise into the ground. I can't wait until Crane cleans house, brings in a new regime and starts fresh in the AL West.

My problem isn't moving to the AL, its moving to the West where all of the away games don't finish until close to midnight. How is that going to work for the fans here in Houston who not only cant watch the game because they have to go to sleep early enough to wake up for work on time, but they can't even check the box score in the news paper? Its stupid for the Astros to have to play 2 hours behind their based time zone. Switching Divisions to me is more of a hit than switching Leagues.

I've never once heard a Ranger fan complain about West Coast games. I grew up with the Astros playing in the old NL West, which also had the Atlanta Braves! Imagine that, the Braves fans had games starting at 10pm when they were on the West Coast.

I guess I just don't get what the big problem is. It's still baseball, I just won't have to see pitchers lay down sac bunts two or three times through the order.

The biggest drawback is that moving to the AL didn't happen sooner, because after next season Carlos Lee will be a FA. It would have been nice to have a position for him to play while he "earned" that $18.5M.

To all those who think moving the Astros to the AL is not that important. Does not 50 years of history, playing the game where everyone fields (as opposed to sitting on their fat asses!), and not asking the fans what they think about all of this....then maybe it is YOU who are not the baseball fan!

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Established in 2008, Astros County is your friendly neighborhood blog & grill. We are the Protectors of the Legacy of Dickie Thon, Defenders of the Honor of J.R. Richard, and Anti-American League. Orlando Palmeiro Was Safe.